Featured Articles

JOY RICHARDBAR AND BEVERAGE MANAGER AT FRANKLIN RESTAURANT GROUP JOY RICHARD is well-known around Boston for managing “craft cocktail” bars before the term existed.  She’s always had a passion for mixing up expertly made drinks and stellar cocktail menus suited to a variety of tastes.  Richard is also one of... Read More

SEANA KELLEY • 49 • General Manager • Durgin-Park Restaurant • Faneuil Hall Market • Boston Lunch at Durgin-Park, that rough-n’-tumble icon of Boston dining culture, has been a 5O-year tradition for your reporter.  As undergraduates at Boston College, fellow choristers, marching band tootlers, miscellaneous music mavens and I observed... Read More

As a dyed-in-the-wool Chenin Blanc fanatic who has been preaching its gospel faithfully over the past five years, it’s wonderful to follow the emergence of the grape from its previous incarnation as an over cropped workhorse, to today’s star performer, in the vineyards of South Africa.  Chenin’s versatility, and its... Read More

Ben SandrofNortheast Sales Manager, St-Germain (Cooper Spirits) BEN SANDROF is someone who knows the world of wine and spirits from all sides of the business.  From crafting the perfect cocktail to attending sales meetings, he’s represented brands from behind the bar as well as out in front, working as both... Read More

“You ever been up to see Bob Ryan, taste his whiskey?” Jeremy Goldberg and I were sharing a couple pints at his Cape Ann Brewery one beautiful Gloucester morning last year, talking about how the town was developing and sustaining local businesses. I didn’t even know there was a distillery... Read More

Who doesn’t love a whimsically named Tiki drink served from a skull or ceramic highball resembling a totem pole?  Invented in the ’7Os somewhere in the West Indies, a tiny bar accessible only by boat was mixing up a cocktail with a high-test brand of Navy rum called Pusser’s that... Read More

GREG CRONE • 45 • OwnerCroney Estates & Liquid Brands, Scituate Greg Crone’s come halfway round the globe making, then selling, quality wine; now he’s gone back to the Southern Hemisphere to bring good bargains to the States.  He’s made New Zealand wines for Brancott, marketed them for Seagram’s C&E... Read More

Bordeaux wine merchants, Jean-Christophe and Margaret Calvet, gave a presentation at the Boston Wine Expo on January 21 entitled “2OO9 Bordeaux – The Best Vintage Ever?” They own the Aquitaine Wine Company. They stood side-by-side at the podium and shared the presentation. Not only is it rare to find a... Read More

Dave Roberts, having set out on a bicycle ride in 2OO7, returned owning a vineyard and winery, Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod, thus starting a new career and way of life. His Connecticut family had summered in outer Cape Cod since he was a boy of eight. He and Kathy... Read More

There may be a growing resistance to wines with alcohol contents above 14 percent, perhaps in reaction to the growing number of wines of that strength. Unfortunately for the objectors, such wines are likely to become more and more common as the world warms. The venerable Michael Broadbent has led... Read More